


Domino Effect

by DeepSpaceTrash



Series: Hero of the Republic [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Banter, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives Lives, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives Needs a Hug, Domino Squad Lives (Star Wars), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, can you tell i struggled to tag this lol, i just wanted to explain what's been going on with fives, i swear this doesn't have as much angst as it looks like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28390797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeepSpaceTrash/pseuds/DeepSpaceTrash
Summary: Over the last six or so months, Fives had grown to appreciate his solitary cell. Yes, it was painfully lonely, the days ticking by endless, with his only indications that time was passing being when the lights in his cell flickered out and the arrival of his three daily meals, but at least he had the occasional visits he got to look forward toakaFives has no idea what's going on, can someone please explain things to him
Relationships: CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CC-1010 | Fox, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-7567 | Rex, Domino Squad (Star Wars) & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Hero of the Republic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074881
Comments: 7
Kudos: 107
Collections: Echo&Fives





	Domino Effect

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I just wanted to say, thank you so much for all the support on my last fic!!! I've never received so much attention and support before, and I'm incredibly appreciative of it <3 Again, all kudos and comments are greatly appreciated, and I'd like to apologize for this taking a while to come out. I've had it ready for a few days, but I've been having some confidence issues ^^; But! Here it is now!

Over the last six or so months, Fives had grown to appreciate his solitary cell. Yes, it was painfully lonely, the days ticking by endless, with his only indications that time was passing being when the lights in his cell flickered out and the arrival of his three daily meals, but at least he had the occasional visits he got to look forward to. It was usually Fox, who while not completely awful, was in a perpetual state of tiredness, and didn’t believe Fives on this whole thing. Granted, now that he wasn’t drugged up and exhausted, he realized that what he was saying sounded straight out of a holodrama, so he couldn’t exactly blame him. But, Fives much preferred the rare occasion when the 501st was on Coruscant, and some of them came to see him.

The other members of Domino Squad always showed up. For how much of a disaster the group as a whole was, and Fives admitted to himself that that even included him, they were consistent about that. They kept him updated on what he was missing, though they often argued over the details. Their visits usually got cut short, but what time he did have with them, Fives cherished over the weeks before he got another chance to see them.

Rex came most of the time, though a few times he had to visit due to the, you know, war going on. Fives didn’t blame his vod for that, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when he didn’t show up. He’s better at explaining what he's missed, but Fives could see how time, Rex seemed more tired. Of course, Rex tried to hide it, and always dismissed Fives’ worries, but both of them knew that this war was taking a toll on everyone. Granted, it always has, how can war not, but it had gotten worse. Fives could never pinpoint the exact moment when things began to change for the worst, it was a galaxy-spanning war after all, but at least for himself, it was Umbara. Things were never sunny before it, but it felt like some of the eternal darkness of that planet had come along with them after they left that awful place, if Fives wanted to get all metaphorical.

Others came as well, though it tended to cycle between who. Jesse, Hardcase, and Kix were the usual suspects, but sometimes others would come. Dogma came, once. After the Jedi Council determined that he had been in the right in killing Krell, since he was a Sith at that point, he had returned to the 501st. It had been… Awkward, seeing him again, to say the least. They had only had a few, very brief conversations, if they could even be called that, before everything happened. Fives wasn’t sure why he decided to come, but he didn’t turn him away. Spending days on end with limited contact with other sentient life made a man desperate. He hadn’t even stayed that long, and neither said much to the other. Still, Fives appreciated it, how little it was.

Sometimes, Fives wondered if being housed with the other prisoners would be better than this. He liked to think he could handle it, but in truth, he wasn’t sure. Would trading near maddening loneliness for the brutal life of living in a prison full of some of the most fearsome criminals in the galaxy be worth it? Maybe. Probably not. Fives would never know though since he was being held in a solitary cell whether he liked it or not. He had been classified as insane and dangerous, apparently so much so that he would be considered a danger to other prisoners.

Today was an average, mind-numbingly boring day. No entertainment besides someone occasionally passing his cell or the guards shifting their rotations. Otherwise, it was the same grey walls, the same rock hard bed, the same everything. Fives wasn’t allowed to have anything in his cell, but oh, what he would do to have a ball that he could bounce off the walls or something, anything, to keep his mind busy. Because thinking too hard for too long tended to lead him down a dark spiral, and he would much rather avoid that. But, there was nothing else to do, and Fives could only keep his thoughts at bay for so long.

What would Echo think, if he was still around to see all this? Would he believe him? Or would he be like everyone else, either seeing him as outright insane, or misguided and confused? Only showing contemptment or pity towards him, like an animal you would find wandering the streets, dirty and starving. Maybe it was for the best Echo wasn’t here, then. But, what Fives wouldn’t give to see him at least one last time, even like this. But, that was impossible. Fives had seen him die, had grabbed his charred helmet, all that remained of his vod, and ran like hell so he didn’t get shot up by droids. Out of everyone in Domino Squad, they had always been the closest. Fives kept the helmet, hid it away where he and the rest of his squadmates kept their contraband. It was burned and smelled of fire and smoke, but Fives couldn’t bring himself to even clean it up, afraid he would somehow ruin it if he did anything to it.

Fives only realized how deeply lost he had become in his own, painful thoughts until he heard the familiar sound of the semi-transparent shield keeping him in flicker off. Looking up, he was unsurprised to find it was Fox. He was probably needed for another test or psychological evaluation or whatever nonsense they wanted him to do like a lab animal. Fives held out his wrists, expecting to be put in cuffs, only to be surprised when Fox shook his head.

“No, we’re not doing that. Now, come on, I don’t have all day.”

This didn’t feel right. Surely he was dreaming? But, as Fives stood and followed Fox out of his cell and down the prison hallways, with no guards trying to stop them, it dawned on him that he was very much awake and that this was happening.

“Is this some sort of breakout attempt? Because if it is, your really not trying to hide it.” Fives finally said after some time of walking in silence. In his humble opinion, it was a perfectly reasonable question to ask, but Fives knew Fox was rolling his eyes even though the commander was wearing his helmet.

“Rex can explain it to you later because I genuinely don’t have time to cram everything that’s happened into the time we have left at the moment.”

Fox almost always had a tired, deadpan tone when he spoke, so the fact he was speaking with so much emotion, at least, it was a lot for Fox, caught Fives off guard enough to keep him quiet for the rest of their journey through the maze-like hallways of the prison complex. He had so many questions begging to be asked, but it seemed he would have to save them for Rex.

They finally stopped in front of a pair of durasteel doors. Fives read the sign above them,  _ ‘Prisoner Release Center’ _ , as Fox pressed a code into the keypad, a click coming from the doors indicating they had unlocked.

“Okay, the guy in there should take care of everything for you, and you should be free to go. Now-”

“Your kidding, right? I’m being released? Just like that?”

Somehow, Fox seemed to grow even tenser than he had been before. “Look, like I said, Rex will explain everything once you're out. I wish I could explain more, but I need to go. I’m so sorry, but this all should make sense soon.”

And before Fives could even begin to say anything, Fox was off, nearly running down the hallways, quickly vanishing around a corner. This wasn’t the weirdest day of his life, but it was surely up there. After a brief bit of hesitation, Fives rereading the sign above the door several times more just to make sure he wasn’t imagining what they were saying, he took a deep breath and pushed the doors open, letting them close and lock behind him.

Fives found himself in what somewhat resembled a waiting room. There was a pair of cheap-looking seats against a wall, facing a desk, behind which there were several racks of various clothing items, along with a very bored looking Twi’lek. Fives wasn’t sure what he should do until the Twi’lek looked around from the datapad she had been reading from.

“You must be ARC-5555, correct?” She asked, casually moving one of her pink lekku over her shoulder as she clicked off her datapad.

“Yes ma’am,” Fives replied, using his years of military training to force himself not to show the nervousness, confusion, and even fear that he’s feeling. And it must have been working because the Twi’lek smiled.

“Great. I’ve been expecting you, so-” She started, spinning her chair around to grab a stack of civilian clothes, and putting them on the desk. “- I already have your clothes here for you. You can go change and there and give your jumpsuit to me.” She pointed towards a small door next in between one of the chairs and another pair of heavy durasteel doors.

“Thank you,” He replied, hoping he didn’t sound as anxious as he was feeling internally before quickly ducking into the small side room, which turned out to be a fresher. It wasn’t a very large space, just holding a toilet, sink, and mirror, but it was enough.

After he had changed, Fives looked at himself for the first time in six months. He almost looked like a stranger, and without that familiar tattoo on his right temple, he might have thought he was somehow looking at an entirely different person. He still looked like a clone of course, but even with prisoners being allowed to shave, under supervision of course, and every three months droids gave haircuts to anyone who wanted one, it wasn’t the same. It could have been a lot worse, that was for sure, but Fives was still going to get himself cleaned up as soon as possible. The lack of sunlight had also made him paler, and he just generally looked more… Tired, dark circles under his eyes had grown more prominent over the months. Everything about himself was just a bit off, and Fives found it deeply unnerving.

Trying and failing to get comfortable in his light clothing, longing for the familiar weight of his armor, Fives stepped out of the fresher, neatly folded jumpsuit in his hands. He gently set his old outfit back on the desk and was met with a smile from the Twi’lek as she took it, placing it somewhere under her desk where Fives couldn’t see.

“Thank you. You’re free to go now.” She said with a smile, but the words took Fives aback. Was it that easy? Surely not. There had to be something else. There always seemed to be something else.

“Are you sure? Is there nothing I need to sign or anything?”

The woman looked at him with sympathy and sorrow. “No, there’s nothing. Anything you could sign wouldn’t be considered legally binding since your not, well… Since your not considered sentient.”

“Oh.”

Fives had known that he wasn’t considered a real person since he was a cadet on Kamino, where it had been drilled into his head from the moment he was old enough to understand what it meant. It hurt though, to hear it from someone he had met mere minutes before. To have a stranger say so bluntly that he wasn’t a real person.

“I don’t agree with it, of course,” She continued, Fives definitely not having hidden his feelings well enough. “I know from experience what it’s like to be seen as nothing but something to be used, a non-person in the eyes of almost everyone. I don’t know what it’s like to fight in a war, but I know what it’s like to be considered a slave. I’m free now, but those feelings never go away.” She sighed softly before quickly going on. “You probably haven’t heard, but there’s a bill being pushed for in the Senate for clone rights. Crazy a bill like that has to even be passed in the first place, but it’s progress at least.”

Slightly stunned by receiving such compassion from a stranger, compassion he had only received from his brothers and the Jedi.

“I- Thank you.” That was all he managed to stutter out before quickly making his leave out through the second pair of doors. He was greeted by a long hallway, lit by the same fluorescent lights as everywhere else, all too similar to the lights on Kamino. But at the end of the hall, there was yet another pair of doors made from durasteel, but Fives could see these had small windows, windows with natural light shining through them.

It took a lot of Fives willpower for him not to sprint for the doors immediately, instead settling for a very brisk walk. He pushed against the final set of doors, no longer hesitant, his heart pounding in his chest so much he thought it might explode right then and there.

Fives had never been happier to see the towering skyscrapers of upper-level Coruscant. He hadn’t realized how horrible stale the air had been inside there until he was breathing in the fresh air out here, clean and crisp and not tasting the least bit recycled. The mid-afternoon feels amazing against his skin, especially after months of thinking he was never going to see or feel sunlight again. Fives let himself have a moment, to take it all in, to fully realize that he’s free now, no matter what the reason for that may be.

“It’s good to see you again, vod,” A familiar voice said, and Fives turned to see Rex. It had only been a few weeks since he last saw his brother, but he looks so much better than he did then. That tired, almost hopeless look in his eyes was gone, with thin shadows being the only hint of the heavy darkness that was once under them, and he just looks younger in general.

“You too, ori’vod. Now, you mind telling me what the hell is going on around here?”

Rex laughed at that, genuinely, truly  _ laughed _ . He hadn’t seen him laugh in so long, Fives was beginning to wonder if he had somehow ended up in an alternate dimension. Knowing his luck, and all the Jedi nonsense he had seen and heard about, Fives wouldn’t have even been that shocked.

“I will, I will, but it’s a bit of a story, and one you’ll probably want to sit down for.”

“Well, I’ll give you one thing, you’re a lot less panicked than Fox was, but you're just as ominous.”

“To be fair to Fox, he did kill the Chancellor and save the Republic. He’s a bit stressed out at the moment.”

It wasn’t that Fives was upset that the Chancellor was dead. He was thrilled about it since that likely meant he had been vindicated, which explained his sudden release. No, it was the fact that Fox,  _ Fox _ , of all people, had done it. While the Coruscant Guard commander had never been fond of the Chancellor, whoever had been, he was fiercely loyal to the Republic, and killing the Chancellor, at least when one didn’t believe what Fives knew, seemed counterproductive to keeping the Republic safe and stable.

“Excuse me? Are you-” Fives started, breaking out of his shocked state, only to realize that Rex was already making his way to a small ship nearby. “Hey, wait, you can’t just-”

“I’ll explain everything with everyone else! Now hurry up!”

Muttering a few curses under his breath, Fives moved to catch up with his brother. “Fine! But I swear, this better be the best damn explanation the galaxy’s ever heard!”

* * *

The ride to the temporary living quarters of the 501st wasn’t a particularly long one, but it felt like it took hours. Fives was practically bursting with questions, and a small bit of him wondered how his day had gone from his average life as a prisoner to this in the span of about half an hour or so. He could wax poetic about how his life had been a string of lucky incident after lucky incident since he first left Kamino, but at the moment, he just wanted some answers.

When they finally did arrive, Fives jumped out of the vehicle, not even bothering with using the door. He just wanted to get inside so Rex would finally give him some damn answers.

“Fives, wait a sec,” Rex said, getting out of the driver’s side and starting to mess around with his commlink. “I gotta-”

“Nope, no more delaying. I’m going in there right now and you’re telling me what I missed.”

“Vod-”

But it was too late. Fives was a few feet ahead of his commander and already pushing the door open. The temp base was the same as last time, though maybe a bit messier. A couple of brothers scattered around, some talking, some sleeping, and other various clones performing various other activities. Immediately, Fives started looking for his squad and found them quickly, but someone else was with them. At first glance, it looked like just another brother, but upon closer analysis, something was very different about them. Them being far paler than any brother naturally was the first thing Fives noticed, but it wasn’t the biggest thing. No, that went to the fact that they not only had their right arm replaced with a cybernetic one along with some sort of attachments to their head, and that from the lower torso down, it was cybernetics. Fives had never seen anyone quite like them before, but almost instantly, he knew who it was, who it had to be.

“Echo?”

The person turned to face him, and if Fives hadn’t been sure it was Echo, by whatever gods did or didn’t exist, he was sure now. Despite how much he had changed, that was still his brother’s, his best friend’s, face. The same as everyone around him, but not. It was a face that haunted his dreams, wracked him with painful, near overwhelming guilt. It was a face he thought he would never see again, a face that died in an explosion, just like that, in the blink of an eye. And yet, there he was, so close, but he felt so, so far.

“Fives-”

Whatever else Echo was going to say was cut off as Fives sprinted across the room, practically tackling his brother into a hug, holding him tight and close.

“I thought you were dead, I saw you die, I-” There was so much more he wanted to say, but it was nothing Fives couldn’t convey through his sobs into Echo’s shoulder, gripping his brother like he might vanish any second.

“Shh, I know, I know. I thought I was dead for a while too.” Echo replied, his voice soft and kind and gods, hearing him again was the most wonderful thing the universe could have given Fives.

The two stayed like that for a while, hugging each other close, gently rocking back and forth as Fives’ sobs began to die down. If this, somehow, was a twisted, horrible dream, he never wanted it to end. Staying like this, for the rest of eternity? That wouldn’t be the worst thing to spend the rest of time doing.

But of course, with the rest of Domino Squad around, peace couldn’t last for long.

“I thought you were going to tell us before he got here.” Fives could hear Hevy say from somewhere nearby, his voice low, clearly trying to avoid being heard.

“I tried to,” Rex hissed back. “But I couldn’t slow him down and comm you at the same time.”

“Do you think we should leave?” Droidbait asked in the same hushed tone.

“Like hell,” Cutup whispered back, before returning to his normal, boisterous tone. “Hey, vod! What are we, chopped liver?”

Fives groaned, finally releasing Echo. “You know, I was glad to finally be out of jail, but now, I’m not so sure.”

Cutup put a hand on his chest in mock offense. “Vod, I can’t believe you would say something so hurtful! You’re breaking my heart!”

This time, there was a collective groan from everyone.

“Why do you have to ruin every moment we have?” An exasperated Echo asked.

“Not every moment!” Droidbait piped up. “Fives, you should have seen him when he first saw Echo again, he-”

Cutup cut off his brother with a swift punch to the shoulder. “Shut up, Bait! Besides, it’s not like your eyes were dry then either.”

After that, they quickly fell into their usual style of banter, which would look like an argument to anyone who didn’t know that this was just how Domino Squad was. They were a group of disasters, who had miraculously survived the war despite everything stacked up against them through working together when it mattered most, and a lot of sheer dumb luck. For a brief while, it almost felt like nothing had happened, Echo hadn’t been presumed dead and Fives hadn’t discovered a giant conspiracy and ended up in jail for it. Almost, though, because for clones, nothing good seemed to last forever.

“How are you even alive, anyway?” Fives asked Echo when the conversation had started to lull. “In fact, aren’t you all supposed to finally explain why I’m here and not, ya know, sitting in a cell? Because no one’s given me a straight answer on anything, besides Fox apparently killing the Chancellor.”

A heavy silence hung in the air while everyone shared a look before Hevy spoke.

“I suppose we’ve been delaying it long enough. Better take a seat though vod, this is going to be a long one.”

They started with the discovery that Echo was, in fact, alive, having been used as a tool for the Separatists after he had survived the explosion at the citadel. And shortly after Echo returned to serving in the 501st, Commander Tano had returned as well, and led a siege on Mandalore, finally liberating the planet from the control of Maul and capturing the Sith Lord as well. At the same time, the Battle of Coruscant happened, something Fives had at least heard about, and Count Dooku had been killed by General Skywalker, and the Chancellor rescued. Then, as General Kenobi was assaulting Utapau and battling General Grievous, Fox and two other members of the guard had discovered that the Chancellor was a Sith Lord controlling both sides of the war, what a surprise, leading to Fox killing him, followed shortly by the death of General Grievous. With the biggest leaders of the Separatists dead, and the rest of them being tracked down, it was only a matter of time before they finally surrendered.

“So, that’s where we are now,” Rex finished off. “There’s a trial today though because apparently, the Senate can’t decide if killing the obviously evil Sith Lord was the right thing for Fox to have done or not.”

“Which is total osik.” Cutup added, “And for some reason, the debate over if we should have rights got thrown in there too, because why not!”

“The trial is being broadcasted publicly at...” Echo said, checking the time on his communicator. “Oh, kriffing hell, we’re so late.”

There was an immediate panic, and a subsequent scramble to get to the only room with a holocaster in the base. Somehow, it seemed the group's insane amount of luck had yet to run out, as, by the time they made it, the trial was still going.

Quietly squeezing their way into the already packed room, Fives saw Hevy leaning over to Jesse.

“We miss anything important?”

“Eh, sort of, but you’re just in time for Fox to give his account of what happened.”

For what was probably the first time in their relatively short lives, the entirety of Domino Squad was quiet as they, along with many other members of the 501st, settled in to watch a trial that would decide not only their fates, but the fate of the Republic as a whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:  
> Vod - Brother  
> Ori'vod - Older brother  
> Osik - Dung (implote)
> 
> I have the next part to this AU already in the works, but it may or may not take a while depending on how much I end up researching the american legal system, haha


End file.
